Pressure is mounting on Whitbread to spin off its Costa Coffee chain after Elliott, the US hedge fund, swooped to become the leisure giant’s largest shareholder. Elliott made its move late on Friday, disclosing its shareholding was now worth more than £430m which makes it Whitbread’s top investor with a stake of more than 6pc. The feared American activist is thought to hold the view that as much as £3bn of value could be created by splitting the coffee shop chain from Whitbread’s Premier Inn budget hotel arm, The Sunday Times reported.